Florida housing sex offenders under bridge

[musicman]

The sparkling blue waters off Miami's Julia Tuttle Causeway look as if they were taken from a postcard. But the causeway's only inhabitants see little paradise in their surroundings.

Five men -- all registered sex offenders convicted of abusing children -- live along the causeway because there is a housing shortage for Miami's least welcome residents.

"I got nowhere I can go!" says sex offender Rene Matamoros, who lives with his dog on the shore where Biscayne Bay meets the causeway.

The Florida Department of Corrections says there are fewer and fewer places in Miami-Dade County where sex offenders can live because the county has some of the strongest restrictions against this kind of criminal in the country.

Florida's solution: house the convicted felons under a bridge that forms one part of the causeway.

The Julia Tuttle Causeway, which links Miami to Miami Beach, offers no running water, no electricity and little protection from nasty weather. It's not an ideal solution, Department of Corrections Officials told CNN, but at least the state knows where the sex offenders are.

Nearly every day a state probation officer makes a predawn visit to the causeway. Those visits are part of the terms of the offenders' probation which mandates that they occupy a residence from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

But what if a sex offender can't find a place to live?

That is increasingly the case, say state officials, after several Florida cities enacted laws that prohibit convicted sexual offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools, parks and other places where children might gather.

Bruce Grant of the Florida Department of Corrections said the laws have not only kept sex offenders away from children but forced several to live on the street.

article

interesting solution. we'll see how long this lasts.

[dbigtex56]

But what if a sex offender can't find a place to live?

That is increasingly the case, say state officials, after several Florida cities enacted laws that prohibit convicted sexual offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools, parks and other places where children might gather.

This is a case where legislators attempt to out-decent one another:

"I say, let them not live within 500 feet of where children might gather!"

"I'll see your 500 feet, and raise you a thousand."

"I think you're bluffing...I raise to 2500 feet!"

"Too rich for my blood - I fold."

If one was to take a map and draw circles with radii representing 2500' from the edges of every park, school, playground, day care center, and who knows what all in just about any city, you'd be hard pressed to find much unencompassed space. And what does "other places where children might gather" mean? Children might gather if the ice cream man comes through, or to look at a dead dog in the street. Does that mean that someone living half a mile away has to move until the ice cream man leaves, or the dog is disposed of?

Passing (and supporting) insane ordinances such as this make people feel that they have accomplished something worthwhile, and they get very angry when it's pointed out that it's insane. Despicable as sexual offenders may be, they should be given reasonable options to obey the law.

[musicman]

well it will just cause the offenders to move here.

[TJones]

This is a case where legislators attempt to out-decent one another:

"I say, let them not live within 500 feet of where children might gather!"

"I'll see your 500 feet, and raise you a thousand."

"I think you're bluffing...I raise to 2500 feet!"

"Too rich for my blood - I fold."

If one was to take a map and draw circles with radii representing 2500' from the edges of every park, school, playground, day care center, and who knows what all in just about any city, you'd be hard pressed to find much unencompassed space. And what does "other places where children might gather" mean? Children might gather if the ice cream man comes through, or to look at a dead dog in the street. Does that mean that someone living half a mile away has to move until the ice cream man leaves, or the dog is disposed of?

Passing (and supporting) insane ordinances such as this make people feel that they have accomplished something worthwhile, and they get very angry when it's pointed out that it's insane. Despicable as sexual offenders may be, they should be given reasonable options to obey the law.

What kind of "reasonable options" do you think these wastes of human skin gave their victims Bigtex ? Defending sex offenders and child molesters, REALLY, you gonna go there ? You need to examine your priorities. If I had my way, they would be under the water that goes under the causeway, not necessarily "living" either. And if you tell me that these people have paid their debt to society I am gonna smack you, because the scars of the violations that they have imprinted on those children's and women's minds, cannot possibly be paid back.

btw......I don't think kids are gonna walk or ride their bike a half a mile to get a friggin' ice cream cone. Let alone see a dead dog in the street. You come up with the most cockamamied scenarios sometimes. You usually have some good stuff to say and tell us, you have been disappointing lately.

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

If they would do the proper thing in the beginning there wouldnt be a problem. Send these rat bastards to the death chamber and call it a day!

[Vertigo58]

If they would do the proper thing in the beginning there wouldnt be a problem. Send these rat bastards to the death chamber and call it a day!

Bravo again,

I have to mention something that I hear from older folks these days. They tell me that decades ago you seldom would ever hear of such horrific crimes against children.

Now here is a serious question I ask:

1. Is that because it was hushed up back in those days and was considered just too disgusting to think of?

2. I myself clearly dont recall seeing these things in the news or newspaper as a kid and teenager in the 70's.

3. Forward to the present, are we being informed more often of these crimes to just be more alert of such wierdos?

4. Is it the freedom of pornography & internet access and a loose society as a whole that temps or encourages this behavior?

5. Finally do we blame it on genes or hereditary? (Ultimate cop out)

I would imagine children are even more frightened than we were. We were just told to never get too close to strangers in cars or walk off with strangers. That sounds Micky Mouse compared to todays world...